1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for visually marking failed components.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
Modern computing systems include replaceable components such as, for example, a dual in-line memory module (‘DIMM’), a single in-line memory module (‘SIMM’), a central processing unit (‘CPU’), expansion cards, and so on. Such components may fail in the sense that the components are completely inoperable or otherwise unable to function properly. Upon detecting that a particular component has failed a system administrator may replace the failed component with a new component. Identifying the particular component that has failed may be challenging, however, as evidenced by the fact that fully functional components are often removed by mistake.